A campaign that had promised so much fizzled out in numbing disappointment here, though, much to the Azzurri's relief, it is not Italy who have been cast from the tournament. The Czech Republic, semi-finalists at Euro 2004 and ranked second in the world by Fifa, stumbled and fell yesterday. A side whose flashes of the class lit up Portugal two years ago went out diminished in defeat.

The finals have their first eye-catching casualty. A combination of injuries, ill discipline and age caught up with the Czechs in Germany, their resources stretched to breaking point and their threat nullified. Italy will rejoice at the ease with which they negotiated what might have been an uncomfortable afternoon. Only in the opening quarter of the game were they troubled, weathering the storm inspired by Pavel Nedved to bite on the counter and then revel in control. There is still plenty of room for improvement but optimism - and expectation - is growing.

For the Czechs, only anti-climax remains. The riotous demolition of the United States in their opening game is a faded memory, their coach Karel Bruckner having failed to coax an alternative game plan from his squad following the hamstring injury sustained by his attacking lynchpin Jan Koller that evening. Milan Baros, the leading scorer at the European finals, was hampered by a foot problem and toiled in desperation for a little over an hour before trudging disconsolately from the fray. His only clear-cut opening, chiselled by Nedved's glorious ninth-minute pass with the outside of his boot, had been wrecked by a heavy first touch and Gianluigi Buffon choked the shot. The tone of frustration had been set.

The pain of elimination will be felt keenest of all by Nedved. The Juventus playmaker has retired once already from international football, in the wake of Euro 2004, but this surely will prove to have been his final appearance for his country. He stood in the centre circle at the end, bare-chested with an Italian jersey stuffed into the waistband of his shorts, and saluted the Czech partisans who had bellowed their support all afternoon. The 32-year-old had been this game's principal entertainer, although that was scant consolation.

It was his invention that had sparked the Czechs from the outset, his elusive movement prompting panic in Italian ranks as he flitted between midfield and attack in support of Baros and conjured his side's most coherent attacks. A swerving shot from distance was well pushed away by Buffon at full stretch, the goalkeeper recovering his poise superbly to thwart Marek Jankulovski's follow-up.

Those saves were forced just after the quarter-hour and with Alessandro Nesta hobbling off moments later with the recurrence of a thigh injury, the Czechs had cause for optimism. Yet those hopes were dashed by the Azzurri's first attack. Francesco Totti's corner should have been dealt with comfortably but Karel Poborsky's mind wandered, Jan Polak failed to spot the danger, and the substitute Marco Materazzi leapt highest on the charge to thump a devastating header down and beyond the stranded Petr Cech.

The former Everton centre-half had been on the pitch only 10 minutes. "It was divine justice," he said, apparently redemption for criticism he had received not least for the part he had played in the ignominy that was Italy's elimination to South Korea four years ago. He dedicated the goal to his team-mate Daniele de Rossi, banned after elbowing Brian McBride earlier in the group. "He's only 22 and everybody makes mistakes."

The errors were all Czech yesterday. As the match lurched into stoppage time at the end of the first half, the hapless Polak crunched into Totti and, having earlier floored Andrea Pirlo, was promptly dismissed. "It was totally irresponsible in the circumstances," said Bruckner, whose side's chances were slimmer after that.

Filippo Inzaghi missed two simple chances but made amends as the Czechs wilted, racing on to Andrea Pirlo's pass as centre-halves dawdled on the halfway line to trundle goalwards, round Cech and slide in a second. "The end of an era?" asked Bruckner. "Some of those in their 30s will definitely not end their careers and, I hope, they will play well for us again." In the meantime, the Azzurri progress was hope maintained.